Students Mourn Slain Classmate, 14

Shaken students at Marina del Rey Junior High in Mar Vista on Friday mourned an eighth-grade classmate a day after a drive-by shooting claimed his life and seriously injured another student.

Rafael Adan, 14, was walking home from school with three friends Thursday afternoon when shots were fired from a passing car. He died at the scene. A 13-year-old boy was rushed to a local hospital, where he remained in stable condition.

Rafael’s death was the fourth killing in an escalating war between a black gang from Venice and a Latino gang based in Culver City, police said. Friends who knew the slain boy, a quiet student and avid soccer player, said he was not involved in a gang. Late Thursday, police arrested a man they believe was one of the gunmen.

On Friday, crisis counselors from the Los Angeles Unified School District held sessions with Marina students as teachers tried to help the children cope with the latest violence. “It’s really hard to understand it,” said Earline Edwards, Marina principal. “We’re trying to deal with it, to let the students know that we still can have good memories.”

Rafael’s friends plan a carwash today to raise money to help his mother take his body back to the family’s home in Puebla, Mexico.

(Due an editing error in Friday’s editions, Rafael’s father was identified as Lucien Lewis. Lewis is the father of a boy slain earlier in the week.)